Button down your computers. New mega attack on the way.

[alfredo]

Looks like it is time to think about adding a Linux/UNIX partition to your computer. It isn't hard to do. Maybe you can find a computer shop that can do the job for you. You will be able to dual boot, Windows or Linux. There are even ways to access your Windows applications from Linux.

From Linux you can surf the web without fear. There are plenty here that can answer any questions you have. If we can't, there are other sites like: http://www.justlinux.com/

It's getting too risky to surf using the Windows platform. I have several friends who have abandoned Windows for Linux and OSX. Linux isn't as hard as some say. Installation and configuring can be confusing for the newbie. Once you get it down, it makes perfect sense.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/03/malware_blitz/

CA security researchers reckon the three items of malware have been combined to maximise the potency of the overall assault. The elements of the attack include:
Glieder-AK: the "infantry element" of the malware attack infects systems, open up backdoors that exploited by the follow-on Trojans. On 1 June, 2005, eight new Glieder variants appeared in rapid succession and quickly spread. "The apparent objective is to get to as many victims as fast as possible with a lightweight piece of malware," CA said.
The Fantibag Trojan further disables the security features of compromised systems. It exploits networking features of target systems to prevent those systems from being able to communicate with anti-virus firms or with Microsoft’s Windows update site, so isolating infected systems.

The Mitglieder Trojan opens a backdoor on a compromised system, leaving them under the control of hackers.

"The co-ordination between the Glieders and Fantibag Trojans can have a potentially devastating effect on desktop systems. This phenomenon is indicative of how malware is becoming increasingly sophisticated and more directly linked to criminal endeavours," said Simon Perry, CA's VP of security strategy, EMEA.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I'm not quite sure what you just said.

I use a Mac with OSX. Am I doomed? Or am I OK?

[MadHound]

2. You're fine, you have a Mac

As do I, for this, among many other reasons.

Once again, the Windoze machines are under attack, and due to their crappy OS, they're going down.

[bowens43]

4. They're under attack because windows has 95% of the

market.

Why waste time on attacking computers that have virtually no user base and no software?

There is a reason that Apple has less then 2% of the market.....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. No software?

That's odd. So if there's no software, I wonder what I've been using since 1987 for word processing, graphics, and every other thing I've ever needed to do, without a single crash or need to call tech support?

[noiretextatique]

18. not many accounting packages for the mac

at least i haven't seen many, especially not for multi-users. that's why i am stuck with windoze.

[MadHound]

32. Here, check these

<http://www1.shopping.com/xPP-Business_and_Productivity_Software-mac_accounting_software-business_and_productivity_features_list_accounting>

[noiretextatique]

35. thanks, but i meant high-end packages

as far as i know, there's nothing like jd edwards or peoplesoft for macs, so in most places i work...it's all pcs.
at home...i think will to linux.

[okieinpain]

41. oh come on now. I've worked on mac office's and to say that they

are problem free is just a big oh story. now if you want to say that they are easy to use, and are less likely to be targeted by spyware, or viruses cool.

but please lets not go over board trying to justify your reason for buying an overpriced pc. GOSH!

[ArkDem]

10. Watch out, you'll upset the children!

:hi:

[MadHound]

12. Sure, you'll get litlle argument from me.

And it is also one of the reasons that Gates is continuing to make a killing with his crappy OS. Everybody wants compatibility. That's all fine and good, but at what cost? Crappy OS, installing firewalls and other such expensive add-ons, constantly vunerable to hacks and attacks, and virii that comes down the pipe, spyware clogging up your machine to it dies, an OS that is in constant need of attention. Sorry friend, I want a computer that I can work with, not have to work on.

But interestingly enough, the Mac OS is significantly harder to develop virii for. It helps a great deal to program the OS for a specific suite of hardware, rather than developing a one size fits all OS that runs poorly.

So hey, keep on buying those Wintel boxes friend, please. Let the hackers and attackers go after the largest market share, while I'll keep right on going, as your Wintel boxe continues to crash and burn.

[Deja Q]

19. A valid point, but still...

OS X, based off of FreeBSD yet mac users won't ever notice a drop in cost, is an inherently more secure system.

So is Linux and doesn't require you to spend $800 in new hardware. ($500 if the mac mini (or the mini crap) can use a standard PC monitor, and we all know Apple's somewhat proprietary nature...)

Apple didn't leech off of IBM. That's why it's a flounder. (bullshit exorbitant prices don't help either.)

Linux is succeding ONLY because it COSTS LESS. MUCH LESS. And even then, it's on the server side only (web-based stuff, for desktops they're still using winbloat.). Companies are switching to THIN-CLIENTS (aka NO-DESKTOPS) - but I'll save that topic for another day, it's quite extensive... But when virus writers start going after Microsoft Terminal Services (which Citrix hooks into), duck for cover.

[alfredo]

37. The Mini uses standard connections. You can use that monitor

you bought with your eMachine.

Apple moved away from proprietary connections back in 1999.

[Occulus]

53. Ooh, tell us!

What is a thin-client? I've been using PCs equipped with both linux and Window$ for over ten years and haven't ever heard that term before. Is this something new?

[bpilgrim]

27. XvsXP explains why OS X is better than XP

http://XvsXP.com is an excellent site that compares features of both OS'es and has a discussion board as well to post your own comments ;->

peace

[frylock]

5. if you keep your "crappy" os updated, there's no need to worry..

maintaining a computer isn't much different than maintaining a vehicle; you can't expect to just fill your tank with gas and hope your car runs forever.

[MadHound]

11. Sorry, but when MS has to start shelling out the patches and updates

A week after they debut a new OS, it looks pretty crappy in my book. Sure, any computer needs maintenence once in a while, but I keep seeing MS patches and updates for the desktop boxes at work on a monthly basis or more. No OS should have to be patched and upgraded on a monthly basis.

One of the many reasons I like Macs is that unlike Windoze machines, you work with a Mac, not on it. I don't have a firewall, I run a defrag and Disk Doctor once every month or two, and it just keeps chugging along. I've run a virus sweep twice in the two years I've had the machine. Upgraded to Jaguar about six months or so ago, never have had to do any patches or other such fixes ever on any Mac that I've owned.

Sorry, but Windoze boxes are plagued with problems and a bloated, inelegant OS.

[frylock]

15. errrrmmm..

the same thing happened upon the release of Tiger. In fact, I believe they announced another large update just this week.

[MadHound]

16. Really? Got a link for that?

I honestly don't know, I'm running Jaguar on my machine, and am waiting to get Tiger in a few months. Those who I know who've gotten Tiger are not reporting any problems. I would truly be interested in any information you have.

[frylock]

23. Apple releases Mac OS X "Tiger" 10.4.1 update

Apple this evening released Mac OS X 10.4.1, a free update to the "Tiger" operating system. The update, which is available via Software Update, delivers overall improved reliability for Mac OS X 10.4 and is recommended for all users by Apple. It includes improvements for: file sharing using AFP and SMB/CIFS network file services; Disk Utility's burning function; using DHCP in wireless networks; user login when accessing LDAP and Active Directory servers; and synchronization with .Mac. Core graphics are enhanced thanks to updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers. The update also improves the Address Book, iCal, Font Book, Mail, and Preview applications. Moreover, the update enhances the Address Book, Flight Tracker, Phone Book, and World Clock Dashboard widgets. Lastly, the Mac OS X 10.4.1 update improves compatibility with miscellaneous third party applications and devices.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/05/16/mac.os.x.10.4.1.update/

Listen, I'm not a hater. In fact, I just picked up an old G3 tower, and plan on installing Tiger as soon as I make a RAM upgrade. It's just that I get a little weary of the MS bashing that is so prevalent on this board. As soon as Mac picks up a market share larger than the reported 5% of computer users, the kiddies will start writing effective viruses for them as well.

[MadHound]

30. Thanks for the link

Looks more like an upgrade to me, rather than a patch, but hey.

And quite frankly the reason I'm hard on MS is because it is a crappy product that is treated as the be all and end all of computing, when in reality it is a POS. Gates nicked the GUI from Apple, and ran with it, and the monopolization business practices he runs don't exactly endear me to him either.

And quite frankly, such OS wars are prevalent, and each side bashes the other, to the point where it has gotten to be a game with folks. Frankly, I don't care what people use, if it works for them, get it. If it doesn't, switch. Personally, I can't stand Wintel boxes, I find them to be unstable and buggy, while all the Macs I've used have been stable and trouble free. And I realize that if Macs market share was larger, there would be more virii for it. That's why I never bitch about Mac's 5% share.

Have fun with your G3 tower, and welcome to the Mac world.

[frylock]

33. peace out!

I'm a 3-OS person myself: Windows (unsurpassed for gaming IMHO), slackware linux, and now Mac. :hi:

[Occulus]

54. now now, patching isn't anything big

LOTS of applications get patched immediately after release. Then there's open source software, wherein one must occasionally patch the patch. ;)

(I had to do that with the ATI linux drivers a couple releases back; patching the patch was fun to figure out that that's what I had to do, and it took a week of work to dig up that info online.... urrggh)

You are correct that Wnidow$ is inelegant and bloated. Using an OEM copy does help somewhat with the bloat, though.

[bpilgrim]

29. or you can make the SWITCH and get back to surf'n & work'n

http://www.apple.com/macmini

upgrading and patching your system shouldn't be a weekly/monthly occurrence, either, and it isn't on a mac, but beyond just security it is the performance, flexibility and quality as well.

for a serious discussion on the 2 os'es go here to read & discuss :hi:
http://XvsXP.com

peace

[okieinpain]

42. and if people would stop downloading every goofy screensaver

and mouse pointer, that would go a long way on stopping the problems. right now I'm currently running win2k, with service pack 4. I've installed and removed countless programs and I've been up and running on the same os load for over a year now.

Yes I've had a crash or two, and yes I've had to clear a virus or two, but there has been nothing that has kept me down for more than 20 to 30 minutes.

stay away from the stupid little free programs and you will have a pretty good experience with windows. Let me be clear, I'm by no means a windows fanatic, I'm trying to learn linux right now, but I get so tired of hearing the windows is evil story. bill gates might be evil, but he has a fairly decent product to sell.

[BornLeft]

34. Argh,

Not really crappy OS just very dumb users. Burns my ass when people call what i make my livelihood on crap. And yes I love Linux/Unix/Mac's also. I just don't badmouth them.

[Tux]

3. You're fine

It's the Windows people who need help. If they want to try Linux, I recommend Ubuntu and Fedora as being the easiest to use and install. Linux geeks will tell you Debian is the "real Linux" but it is hard to install without changing the BIOS. Best use Fedora or Ubuntu. We should set up a Linux forum so people can get help with Linux and learn about it. I could use more info.

[Deja Q]

20. I agree with Ubuntu. Not sure on Red Hat. There's also a Linux forum...

Red Hat is still corporate.

The Linux forum is the Open Source forum. (renaming it might be better.)

[Tux]

52. Fedora is on it's own

Red Hat no longer controls it.

[AntiCoup2K4]

50. Ubuntu is Debian.

It uses the Debian installer, the usual apt-get packaging system, etc. About the only difference between Ubuntu and a regular Debian install is that the Ubuntu is designed to be a totally automated installation (a good thing for Linux newbies) and that they limit your software repositories in the name of keeping Ubuntu a completely free open source distro. I've never had any BIOS problems with Debian, and I've installed it on some fairly old machines.

[Zorbuddha]

58. Help! I can't install Ubuntu

I ordered the disk and flailed about, but couldn't figure out how to install it.

Am I just too stupid to fool with this, or is their hope (and help) for me yet?

[tridim]

6. "From Linux you can surf the web without fear"

I love Linux, but that's really bad advice. It's not true either.

[trotsky]

9. Thank you.

You cannot "surf without fear" with ANY operating system. It's impossible to know everything that's out there, and there has never been, nor will there probably ever be, an operating system that is 100% secure and safe.

[Deja Q]

21. Exactly.

Nothing is 100%, but MS is a slop artist.

OS X is kewl but it's way overpriced for the OS and hardware.

Linux, even the editions in a $50 book, is the most cost-effective choice.

[alfredo]

14. OK, You can surf with little fear. Don't surf as root and you

will not have much to worry about.

[tridim]

39. Do you think a beginner even knows what root is?

It's certainly possible to lock down Linux fairly well, but tons of users don't have the slightest clue how to do it. Maybe the new distros make it easier?

[AntiCoup2K4]

51. If you get a newer distro like Xandros, SuSe, Mepis, or Fedora...

....you will have an automated installation (as easy as Windows if not better) and when it's finished you will be able to do most typical end user tasks on the PC right out of the box . Web browsers, e-mail clients, office software (Open Office, in most cases) all run exactly like their Windows counterparts, and you don't need to know a thing about "root" or any command line functions to do any of that (other than setting up a root password maybe, which will be part of the installation routine).

Once your comfortable doing your routine stuff in Linux, THEN you can start studying the command line & programming stuff and writing your own code ;)

[alfredo]

59. No. Can't Windows isolate the user accounts from admin?

[CatholicEdHead]

43. No option like that for Windows

as Admistrative privliges give you full root priviliges. Linux, OS X, and any Unix variant let you have all the main permissions but always keep the root permissions secure.

OS X easily does this by asking you for a password whenever you intall anything. That itself knocks off many autorun viruses.

[LittleClarkie]

8. Neener, neener!

I heart my Mac.

[WLKjr]

13. I am using OSX and SuSE Linux 9.2

the laptop is the only thing running full blown windows only. The desktop has a split WIN/SUSE Linux partion.

[alfredo]

17. Have you tried bochs?

I used bochs to access the Mac OS from Linux.

http://bochs.sourceforge.net/

[WLKjr]

25. you have captured my interest, please tell me more

[alfredo]

38. I used it several times on the PPC platform and it worked well.

While in linux I would launch Bochs and Mac OS would launch on the desktop. That was a few years ago, so I can imagine how much it has progressed. Before you launch it the first time, you might need to know things like your monitor settings. It's been awhile, so check out the link above and read up on Bochs. It worked fine on the Mac, and as I remember it was not even a 1.0 version.

[WLKjr]

46. anyway of doing that vice versa?

say loading a linux vmc in osx but not using vpc for mac?

[alfredo]

47. NOt sure.

[Blue_Roses]

22. well I'll be dammed...

I was up half the night trying to fix the security to my PC last night. I couldn't get Norton to work and when it said my Anti-Virus wasn't installed, I knew something was wrong. I had a hell of a time trying to get to Symantec to get some help. Damn, don't these idiots have anything else to do :mad:

[charlie]

24. Point of infection is an email attachment

Same as it ever was. People never learn.

If Apple or Linux experiences the widespread adoption MS enjoys, they'll be susceptable to the same sort of viral plagues. Clueless is clueless, no matter the OS.

[alfredo]

48. Does MS run root by default?

If that is the case, then that is one of the problems.

If I got a virus on this machine, most likely it would be isolated in this account. It would have to know, or know how to bypass, my root username and password to get access to the real important stuff, and then it would have a hard time getting into my file vault. It would take a good bit of number crunching to crack the encryption there.

[Massacure]

26. I'm 16. Linux won't run my videogames.

I'll trust my firewall and antivirus, my anti-spyware programs and Firefox.

[WLKjr]

28. hey, want to learn something kewl?

I am a Networking major and will have my Associate's degree soon in ITCNS, and there are ways to check how locked down your system is. I suggest you use them and make adjustments accordingly.

Google, "LANguard" and download thier utilities.

[Massacure]

31. I always love learning things about computers.

I want to go to school, but I'm not sure exactly what to major in. It will be something with computers though I cannot decide if I want to go towards the hardware end or the software end of them.

[WLKjr]

45. and ITCNS major is good to start with

you get a taste of hardware, software and networking, but mostly networking.


but you get to play with everything and make everything talk with each other.

[Just Me]

36. Correct me if I'm wrong but,....

,...Linux has been created and adopted by private militia and security companies.

I want you to correct me if I'm wrong, please.

[0rganism]

40. Linux is originally the creation and adoption of Linus Torvalds

At the time, he was a Finnish university student pursuing an upgrade from Minix. As of 2004 he lives in Lake Oswego, a suburb of Portland, OR, where he heads up Open Source Development Labs.

If I were a security company or a paranoid militia member, linux (small L, indicating a gnu/Linux variant) would certainly be my first choice. It combines the low cost and commonality of 386-based systems with the efficiency and solidity of UNIX, and the transparency of open source software. If something goes wrong, you can trace it all the way to the original code yourself, without having to sign over your firstborn by way of a non-disclosure agreement.

However, this is a far cry from saying that private militia and security companies are the primary developers. There are too many variants to list, and while it's quite possible that some flavors have been heavily influenced by people with strong ties to either (or both), I would hesitate to apply this as a general description of Linux (the kernel) or linux (the open-source amalgamation of Linux and its core (usually gnu) software).

[Just Me]

44. Thank you for the info.

I just wondering since I know there has been some advocacy for its adoption.

[Occulus]

55. There has been- go check out PHLAK

The Professional Hacker's Linux Assault Kit. Declassified NSA security docs included :evilgrin:

[Swamp Rat]

49. tangent

What do you think of Disk Warrior, Norton Dosk Doctor, and TechToolsPro for Panther/Tiger OS? Do you use all three?

[6th Borough]

56. I recieved 3 emails from Drinking Liberally 2 days ago, both MyDoom...

infected. The third, non-infected e-mail was an apology relating to spam being sent from their mailing lists.

If you are running a WinOS, don't forget the basics...

Lock down the Local zone; don't allow ActiveX to run if at all possible; don't follow links from within your email client; make sure attachments aren't run automatically; open email in text format, not HTML; disable Iframes.

If you have a home built computer (or a custom case) like me, think about doing the following:

I run WinXP along with Debian Linux; instead of having multiple partitions though, I have my hard drives mounted in racks. All I do is yank out my Win partitioned HD and pop in my Linux one (or vice-versa) depending on which I'm using. This removes any possible compatibility problems, data leakage, etc.

If your new to linux, Google Knoppix; you can burn a live CD (you can run Linux from a CD, without installing it, plug and play style).

[6th Borough]

57. BTW, my last post contains some novice-level advice. /NT

[CATagious]

60. I just installed Linspire....

a couple of days ago. It is super-easy to install and use. They also have a ton of software that you can download from their 'CNR' site; it'll download and install the software with one click! I'm very impressed so far.